Wearing Number 9 For Citadelles De Quebec

Before Jean Beliveau packed the Quebec Colisee as the best senior hockey player in the world with the Quebec Aces, he was a star junior with the Citadelles of the Quebec Junior Hockey League. This program, which I got my mitts on only recently, is from the 1949-50 season, with Le Gros Bill wearing number nine. He would have been about 18 at this time.

Here the Citadelles are playing the Verdun Maple Leafs, the junior team the Rocket once played for, and as you can see, the coach is none other than Hall of Famer Sylvio Mantha, who starred for the Canadiens from 1923 to 1937, and was captain of the team for much of that time. Sylvio’s younger brother Georges was also a great Hab from 1928 to 1941.

Is that the same Colisée de Québec that the Nordiques played in? It’s still in use by Roy’s Remparts and hopefully it will be home to a new NHL team again soon. That’s well over 60 years of service, very good longevity for an arena.